BKO was a typo I made in a thread that seems to have caught on. I meant to say TBO (totally bathroom obsessed) but there was a two year old pulling on me, and I hadn't slept, and BKO came out instead. For some reason freaks who are TKO seem to understand that BKO (which makes no sense) means Bath LOL I have mixed finishes in all of my rooms (because I'm BKO AND TKO LOL) In my master bath I have antique gold knobs and gold tone lighting (antique stuff from the 1920's that I restored). The lighting also has browns involved in the design and the faucets are all ORB. The towel bars, hooks etc are all ORB as well. All of the finishes are what I would call "warm" in nature and the colors flow. Chrome would look terrible in that room. In the kitchen I have a SS countertop, fridge, DW and TC. My sinks are SS and the faucets (bar, main and pot filler) are all chrome. My lighting is a mix of antique pieces which have both aluminum (or antique pewter color) and a soft gold highlight on them with amber shades. My stove has both silver and gold on the handles (Lacanche) and my knobs are antique pewter. My other counters are granite with amber running through it prominently and the backsplash is amber as well as the glass in the cabinets. So in that room, I am mixing both gold and silver (warm and cool) tones. In the family bath I have a mix of chrome and brushed nickle. The faucets are chrome, as is the toilet handle and then the other pieces are brushed as are the knobs. The powder room has gold or brass fixtures and knobs. I hate having everything exactly the same except for the most modern of rooms (where that uniformity becomes important in taking individual elements out of the design). So the answer is....LOL you can probably do anything. :oP Does that help???

By "door jambs and knobs", you must mean "door hinges and knobs"? (Door jambs are the vertical pieces of the door casing, made of wood.) IMO door hardware shouldn't draw attention to itself. That's not to say that it shouldn't be well-designed, just that it should not be ostentatious or be the one of the first things that you notice in a room. I agree with the others that it's fine to mix finishes, but the style of the hardware should be appropriate for the style of the house, and the general style should carry through the whole house. Victorian hardware would look jarringly out of place in a Craftsman bungalow or in a Spanish Colonial Revival. If you choose something that goes with the style of your house, you won't have to worry about whether it will be dated in a few years. It sounds like you're building new. What style is it? What style are your doors? Most new homes are a mixture of styles, but if one style predominates, that would make your choices easier. As for ORB, my prediction is that it will be here for a while, if only because it's so cheap to manufacture. (It's either a chemical process that darkens metal or a painted finish, not actual metal plating or a solid metal.)

Please go with something in pleather--the naugas are a threatened species! I don't think light fixtures need to match, especially not the ORB. It's, you know, blackish. Doesn't even count as a metal finish. I think satin and polished finishes should be fine together on knobs and stools. Fixtures and furniture really aren't required to match anyway. Of course it all depends on the room. It's possible for it to be just awful, but odds are much better that it'll be fine.

I love matte black. I chose it for all kitchen cabinets and drawers handles. We had to replace every door handle in the house. We went to the habitat restore store and bought sets of lever handles matching for all doors and closets, everything. They were $2 a set in brass, my husband carefully prepped and spray painted all of them all matte black along with all the door hinges. They look fantastic. Since we were on a limited budget working with the money fema gave us it was a great money saver. We got many great deals at habitat. I have since changed out other knobs and handles on furniture and other parts with matte black. I have brushed nickel for my faucets through out.